The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Alexander B. during the 2011-2012 League.
Mission: Letter to the Editor #1
Submitted to the Wall Street Journal
(“The Rise of Consumption Equality, op-ed, Jan. 3”) by Mr. Kessler attempts to diminish the alarming nature of income inequality by showing that certain items such as cell phones and airline tickets are now affordable to the masses.
There is no question that certain items are more affordable, but Mr. Kessler seems to view this as a new phenomenon stating that “consumption equality” is becoming the norm. Through a market system, many once exclusive goods soon become common place. Mr. Kessler’s examples are no different than Henry Ford’s Model-T democratizing the automobile 100 years ago. Also, it is important to remember that there will always to be safer cars or experimental drugs that are only available to the wealthy, at least for a while.
The decline in price of certain former luxury goods does not take away from the growing level of income inequality. According to the Economic Policy Center, a CEO now earns 243 times more than the average worker this is striking because in 1978 the ratio was only 35 to 1. As middle class wages remain stagnant and prices of health care and other necessities rise, people will have proportionally less money available for that new 55-inch TV. We should figure out what is causing this problem instead of changing the metric.
